Recent Reports

Guided by Justice and Compassion

Australia

Parliament of Australia A research paper Boat ‘turnbacks’ in Australia: a quick guide to the statistics since 2001 Updated 16 November 2017

This guide provides statistics on the number of boats that have been ‘turned back’ since the practice of removing unauthorised maritime arrivals in Suspected Illegal Entry Vessels (SIEVs) from Australian waters was introduced by the Howard Government (from 2001–2003) and reintroduced by the Abbott Government (in December 2013). It updates boat ‘turnback’ data provided in another Parliamentary Library publication, Boat arrivals and boat ‘turnbacks’ in Australia since 1976: a quick guide to the statistics (January 2017).

Edmund Rice Centre assisted their international partners in the preparation of this NGO Alternative Report as part of the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee’s review of Australia.
The submission focuses on Australia’s treatment of refugees and people seeking asylum, especially as this relates to the right to life and prohibition of torture and of other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, rights of non-citizens (articles. 3, 6, 7, 9 and 13 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights).

Law Council releases Regional Processing Policy, calls for initiative on regional approach.

With the closure of the Manus Regional Processing Centre imminent, the Law Council is calling on the Australian Government to work with countries in the Asia-Pacific region to establish a cooperative, transparent approach to address the flow of asylum seekers.

The Law Council’s Regional Processing Policy, “Proposal for Australia’s role in a regional cooperative approach to the flow of asylum seekers into and within the Asia-Pacific region,” October 2017

This report is the continuation of the Edmund Rice Centre’s determination to investigate Australia’s most recent deportations to Afghanistan by providing an overview of Afghanistan’s current security, political, and socio-economic situation, the drivers and trends of migration, and the returnees’ experience, compiled from both primary and secondary sources.

This report was written by Lauren Bull, Elizabeth Colliver, Emily Fischer, Shawn Rajanayagam and Edmund Simpson as members of Liberty Victoria’s Rights Advocacy Project (‘RAP’). RAP is a community of lawyers and activists working to advance human rights in Australia. RAP works across a range of issues including equality, government accountability, refugee and asylum seeker rights and criminal justice reform.
The forward has been written by Ian Macphee AO Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs (1979–82)

Report of the Senate Committee: Serious allegations of abuse, self-harm and neglect of asylum seekers in relation to the Nauru Regional Processing Centre, and any like allegations in relation to the Manus Regional Processing Centre 21 April 2017